By Heinz Richter
A while ago a reader questioned that Leica continues to manufacture film cameras. The opinion was that in this world of digital photography, it would be too costly to continue to make film cameras, especially ones with the level of quality like Leica.
Of course, the reader is wrong. Leica does indeed continue to make film cameras. That is further highlighted by the recent re-introduction of the Leica M6. This makes Leica very much the only player in this field. Both Nikon and Canon websites do no longer list any film cameras. Does that mean that film is becoming a thing of the past?
Definitely not. Film continues to have an avid following. That is the very reason why the Leica film cameras are still being made. Unlike with many other makes of cameras, especially Leica enjoys a faithful film shooter following.
That made me think of my own film cameras of which several are sitting on my shelves, waiting to be used. I have to admit, I haven’t shot a roll of film for a long time and just about when I am ready to keep it that way, I come across an article by Ricky Opaterny that makes me think about film again.
He too hadn’t been shooting film for several years.
... So last week when I had the chance to shoot a couple rolls of film with a Leica M7, I wasn’t expecting much, having not shot any film since 2004.
Leica M7
Photo by Ricky Opaterny
That caught my interest. I have never shot with the M7. My M6 was the last film Leica before changing to digital. Ricky continues...
A few years ago in the New Yorker, Anthony Lane described the sound of a Leica shutter as a seductive kiss. I had never handled a film Leica M series camera before last week, and I have to say that Lane’s ostensibly cheesy observation is dead-on. After I loaded my first roll of Kodak Portra 400VC in the camera and advanced it a couple frames, I thought there was something wrong with the shutter. “Why isn’t it making more noise?” I asked myself. Seduction begins with a little mystery, I suppose.
This man sat next to me to watch the Spain vs. Germany game at the soccer store on Haight
Photo by Ricky Oparterny
That mystery eludes me. Probably because I have owned a Leica since my dad gave me one for my 5th birthday. After all those years, I have learned what the Leica can do for me. Shooting with that camera is no longer a mystery but it has proven to be a thoroughly professional tool.
Handling the camera was great. It just feels absolutely right when you’re holding it. And I had mounted on it my favorite lens of all time, Leica’s 50mm f/2.0 Summicron.
One of the great things about the Leica M cameras is that you can shoot them at very low shutter speeds—even with the 50mm lens, I can reliably get shots as slow as 1/10 second. It’s like having a faster lens or better high ISO performance or just, generally, an extra stop! This comes in quite useful indoors where light is usually low. With the exception of the first shot, I don’t think any of these were taken at speeds above 1/50 of a second. Normally, on an SLR with a 50mm lens mounted, that would be the minimum shutter speed that someone could expect to use—here, it was my maximum shutter speed.
I have to agree. I have never shied away from using a Leica at relatively slow speeds. I suppose this is one of the reasons why I think that the current quest for ever higher ISO capabilities of digital cameras is a wasted effort to some degree. But to each his own.
Ricky makes special mention of the Leica viewfinder. He considers it easily the brightest viewfinder of any camera. He is right. Another advantage of the Leica bright line viewfinder is that it always shows more than the area covered on film. This allows seeing and observing the scene past the edges of the image area. It allows the photographer to become more aware of his surroundings, something that no SLR camera ever offered.
I even liked the images that showed more of the film grain
Photo by Ricky Opaterny
Because I was shooting film—expensive film that would need to be developed at additional cost—I was patient waiting for shots I was anticipating. I tried to avoid wasting a single frame. I spent more time thinking about what I was doing rather than blindly snapping away.
That comment definitely made me think. I used to take the same deliberate approach, and I still do so when shooting digital. But I must admit that digital makes it oh so very easy to take a machine gun approach to photography. The gratification of instant frame review allows you to do so without any cost penalty. I especially take this deliberate approach when doing studio shoots, especially with product photography. There it eliminates a lot of trial and error shots to get things right.
Shooting, with a Leica, as many others have noted, makes you slow down. It makes you more careful about composition and exposure. And shooting with film compounds those effects. In general, I’ve spent the past few months trying to regain two abilities I feel I’ve lost in the Internet age—that to be patient—to delay gratification—and that to concentrate on something for an extended period of time.
Digital photography conditions us to expect instant gratification, providing us with instant previews of our images. In some cases, this is useful and helps us get the shot we wanted. However, more often it’s simply a distraction from doing the thing we should be focused on—taking photographs. Is there any other activity in which people so immediately evaluate their performance with such scrutiny as photographers checking the LCD image previews on their cameras?
The bruschetta was very good
Photo by Ricky Opaterny
It isn’t just the process that blew me away; the results were awesome. I waited with anticipation for the local lab to develop and print my film. What would it look like? What surprises lay in store? I can say that I felt my patience was rewarded. Even though their content is boring, the prints I got back from the lab had a contrast and vividness that makes them look not only unlike digital images, but cinematic in a way that I absolutely love—rich, textured, almost tactile. Unfortunately, getting to that result means paying a lab for developing and printing, which is why I don’t think I can shoot exclusively on film.
I wholeheartedly agree and it makes me think all the more to get some film, load one of my film cameras and shoot. Of course that brings up the question of what film to use. My main interest is black and white. Therefore I don’t think I will bother with color film. My favorite black and white film used to be the Agfapan APX 25. Unfortunately that is no longer available. Then I switched to Efke KB 25 which was later available as the ADOX CHS 25. Unfortunately, to my knowledge nobody offers an ISO 25 film at the moment. Of course there are times when ISO 25 just isn’t enough. For those times I occasionally used Agfapan APX 100 or later the Efke KB 100 or the ADOX CHS 100. But my favorite higher speed film is without question the Ilford XP-2 Super. It has the advantage of an ISO range from 100 to 800 without the need of any exposure or development compensation. However, at the lower speeds it does display noticeably finer grain. This allows the user to switch between higher and lower ISO indices on the same roll of film and thus assure the finest possible grain under varying lighting conditions. XP-2 super is a chromogenic film meaning that it must be developed in C-41 color chemicals, like all standard color films.
Watermusic
Photo by Heinz Richter
Leica M6, 50mm f/2 Summicron
Agfapan APX 100
Melanie
Photo by Heinz Richter
Laica M6, 50mm f/2 Summicron
Agfapan APX 25
Lou Bellami
Penumbra Theater, St. Paul, MN
Photo by Heinz Richter
Leica M6, 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit
Ilford XP-2 Super at ISO 800
Stage lighting
Don Stolz
Old Log Theater, Excelsior, MN
Photo by Heinz Richter
Leica M6, 50mm f/2 Summicron
Ilford XP-2 Super at ISO 800
Tecco
Former Principal Violinist St. Paul chamber Orchestra
Photo by Heinz Richter
Leica R4, 28mm f/2.8 elmarit
Ilford XP 2 Super
Reggie Anderson
Artist
Leica M6, 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit
Agfapan APX 25
I guess this should be enough for myself to shoot some film. Now I just have to decide which film and which camera to use. Maybe I will be back here at a later date for a report.
For the complete article by Ricky Opaterny go to: Rediscovering film with the Leica M7
For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right
For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right
To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.
All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.
______________________________________________________________________
To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.
All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.
______________________________________________________________________
Buy vintage Leica cameras from America's premier Leica specialist
Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
The Ilford XP-2 film sounds very interesting. Is it possible to achieve even higher speeds with push processing?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not. I have tried to have it push processed at a professional lab and the results were not good. There was no appreciable increase in speed over ISO 800, and the shadow detail was very bad. ISO 800 is definitely the limit.
DeleteC41 film is not really pushable, either by developing time or temperature increase. What it does have is a very wide latitude and lends itself to scanning like nothing else. These were created to accomodate the occasional B&W shooters that didn't want to mess with processing their own film. They could be handled by any 1hr lab and a (then) ridiculous price.
DeleteIndeed these films were ideal for the occasional black and white shooter. However, the main advatage is the fact that chromogenic films can be shot with various ISO settings, on the same roll, without the need of any development changes. At the lower sensitivity settings, the film displays noticeably finer grain, yet the photographer has the higherISO settings available when needed.
DeleteSince the Agfapan APX 25 is discontinues and no other ISO 25 films are available, what do you recommend for fine grain, black and white films?
ReplyDeleteA very capable film is the Ilford Pan F Plus with ISO 50. It could never quite match the Agfapan APX 25, but it is a whole stop faster at ISO 50. When I wrote the article, I overlooked the Rollei RPX 25 film. With it there is a ISO 25 film which, if I am not mistaken, is based on the Agfapan APX 25 and should render equal results. However, this film is currently not listed on the Rollei website. There is also the ADOX CMS 20 II film which is advertised as the sharpest, most fine grained and highest resolving film on the market. But it is a high contrast copy film which requires a special developer to render continuous tome images.
DeleteFilm is dead. I'll take those useless Leicas off your hands...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the offer, but this is not necessary, I switched to digital Leicas.
Delete@Heinz Richter «I have owned a Leica since my dad gave me one for my 5th birthday»
ReplyDeleteNo kidding? At five? I have a 9yo grandchild who can barely handle a simple cell phone. You must have been a genius and your father **extremely** rich! Wow!
My father loaned me his IIIf when I was 21 and was about to embark on a European trip with my backpack, cautioning me *sternly* about its value. I found the operation a nightmare, specially loading it (had to remove the lens and put the shutter in T to engage the sprockets). Next year I saved for a Spotmatic.
My first camera was a Kodak Brownie Six-20 I got for Xmas at 11 and I didn't get my father's IIIf until he passed. My first M was an M6 long sold, but still shoot with an M2 and MP.
My father owned a professional photography business, so I grew up with cameras and photography. The model III Leica for my 5th birthday was the result of me showing interest in taking pictures myself. My father firmly believed in learning by doing. Subsequently he gave me the camera along with some basic instructions and let me do my thing, meaning learn from my mistakes, and mistakes were many. Because of it, once I was able to approach photography more seriously, I knew how to operate my camera without any nominal problems, including loading. To this day I am mystified why so many have problems loading Leica rangefinder cameras, including the screw mount models.
DeleteWow. My question was only related to your age. Rangefinders weren't at all amiable. BTW, screw mount Leicas required the user to trim the leader and it used to be tricky. When my father loaned me his for my trip, he taught me a better way which consisted of removing the lens, opening the curtains by means of the T setting and manipulating the leader up so it engaged the sprockets. It was a hassle anyway... One of the guys had a new Nikon FTn and I drooled over it. Beyond my means so I set my sights on the Spotmatic.
DeleteBelieve me, I consider 5 years to be too early to use a screw mount Leica camera. My useable results at that time were few and far between, and I did have my dad load the camera most of the time because of the relative difficulty loading it. One problem I remember very well is forgetting to pull out the collapsible Summar. Using the rangefinder was not too much of a problem, the orange filter over one of the rangefinder window greatly helped with that. I never trimmed the leader of the film, but I did find (at a later age) that removing the take up spool and engaging the film outside the camera and maybe spooling the film slightly back into the cassette allowed me to pull it just to the correct length to insert into the camera without any problems. Then, after attaching the bottom plate, advancing the film would immediately turn the rewind knob as a sure indication that the film was properly advancing. My father also taught me the sunny 16 rule which allowed me to get by without a light meter, and the formula of dividing the guide number by the shooting distance revealed the correct flash setting. I still have the flash synchronizer attachment for the Leica III.
DeleteAdox cms 20ii is the best film I have tried, and it scans well. The negative is that it might be too digital looking, but the highlights behave just like film.
ReplyDelete